Performance mobile gaming on the go
The last time we had a Gigabyte P-series laptop in for review, we were extremely impressed by its performance, build quality and price. That was the P34 v3. This time, we have the newest member of the P-series, the P34W v5.
The list of specifications on the P34W v5 are just magnificent, as they were on the previous generation model. This particular 14" laptop boasts a sixthgeneration 3.5GHz Intel i7-6700HQ processor, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a 128GB M.2 SSD and a further 1TB 2.5" hard drive. Installed on the SSD is a copy of Windows 10 64-bit Home Edition.
Graphics come courtesy of an Nvidia GTX 970M with 3GB of memory, which helps drive the 14" QHD 2560 x 1440 LCD screen. And in terms of connectivity, there are three USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 3.1 Type-C port, HDMI, VGA, gigabit Ethernet and an SD card reader. Naturally, there’s also 802.11 ac/b/g/n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and an HD webcam included too.
The design of the P34W v5 is very much a Gigabyte standard, with a modern mix of matteblack plastic and aluminium throughout; it may not win any awards, but it looks okay and is perfectly functional. There’s a nicely spaced backlit keyboard set in a slightly recessed area, with a large touchpad and button strip below, both of which are responsive and good to use.
It’s also remarkably slim, measuring just 20.9mm thick, and at 1.7kg it’s not too difficult to carry around either. It’s also one hundred grams lighter than its predecessor, the P34W v3, and significantly more powerful too. Indeed, there’s a hefty amount of mobile gaming potential here.
Booting into Windows took around 12 seconds. As for benchmarks, the P34W v5 managed to score 6,595 on the 3DMark Firestrike demo. In realworld terms, this means the likes of The Witcher 3 at high quality in the full 2560 x 1440 resolution had an average framerate of around 34, while Star Wars: Battlefront at the same resolution in ultra settings managed 48fps, and Fallout 4 on high settings never dipped too much below 60fps.
The quality of the screen was very good indeed. Thanks to the powerful internal components, there wasn’t any sign of the laptop struggling during games. The colours were good, and the image displayed was as close to a top-end IPS panel as you could imagine. Thankfully, the screen seemed somewhat brighter than the previous P34W v3, which is a vast improvement and improves the clarity and sharpness of the visuals.
Battery life while gaming lasted just short of a couple of hours from a full charge. Using it for everyday tasks and watching a video squeezed a tad over three hours out of it, before we needed to plug it back in again. On the whole, that’s not too bad. We're talking about a laptop that could put most gaming desktops to shame. At any rate, it’s enough brief gaming to last a commute.
Of course, these kind of features and performance don't come cheap. The £1,350 price may seem a little steep for most users, but considering what you get, in terms of the raw power and design, it’s not all that bad.
We really liked the Gigabyte P34W v5. It’s a wonderfully compact yet extremely powerful laptop. And although it’s a little pricey, we think it’s worth every penny. David Hayward
Rather expensive, but offers great performance.